Fuelzilla
Hybrid Car - More Fun with Less Gas
Environmentally Friendly Driving

are you happy with your wind turbine?
Groups | Search | About
Login Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Home Power - Home Power/Home-Made Power for Off-Grid Living. 

Bookmark this page:  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
are you happy with your wind turbine? tg 01-18-2007
Posted by tg on January 18, 2007, 4:40 pm
Please log in for more thread options
>> I'd like to swap experiences with owners of home wind turbines. There's a lot
of chatter on the newsgroups about wind turbines
>> but
>> it's mostly theoretical.. I own an Aero4gen-F 12v turbine and I'm not
entirley happy with it and I'm thinking of upgrading so
>> I'd
>> value opinions from other turbine owners. Here is a picture of the
installation I have:
>
> You are in an ideal position to know how to compute the output of a new
> turbine.

I don't need to compute the output of a new turbine. That's all theory which I'm
not interested in. If you own your own turbine and
can give me your experiences about it's good points and its bad points, that's
what I would be interested in.




Posted by adm on January 19, 2007, 8:36 am
Please log in for more thread options
> I'd like to swap experiences with owners of home wind turbines. There's a
> lot of chatter on the newsgroups about wind turbines but
> it's mostly theoretical.. I own an Aero4gen-F 12v turbine and I'm not
> entirley happy with it and I'm thinking of upgrading so I'd
> value opinions from other turbine owners. Here is a picture of the
> installation I have:
> http://www.zen73857.zen.co.uk/turbine/situ.htm
> Here is a clearer picture of the Aero4gen-F turbine.
>
http://www.lvmshop.co.uk/item.asp?ls=&v=7EBA94CA50E743DAB4FA9CDA450CE787&id=2640
> Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the aero4gen, it's a well made little
> turbine but it's too small for my needs. Not enough
> power for what it cost me. This is my first turbine and it's my own fault
> for starting with something too small. I was thinking of
> upgrading to the Aero6gen-F
>
http://www.lvmshop.co.uk/item.asp?ls=&v=7EBA94CA50E743DAB4FA9CDA450CE787&id=2652
> but first I'd like to get some feedback from owners of other turbines for
> comparison. I use a stainless steel 38mm (2inch) pole
> (5mm wall thickness) for the turbine.
> The aero4gen 12v specs boast 10A max output but I've never seen it produce
> that. 5A is the maximum I've ever seen. In upgrading I
> can't go too big because the installation I have for a turbine isn't
> strong enough to hold a big blade machine, and it's the only
> location I have so 1.5m max blade diameter is my limit, and I want to stay
> with 12v. The pole is top clamped at 1.4m below the
> turbine. I could easily fit a stronger pole if need be.
> What I like about the aerogen turbine is that it's well made and it's all
> metal apart from the blades. It has nice big bearings and
> the moving parts are beefy and strong. This is one reason for staying with
> the aerogen brand but that's because I know nothing
> about other brands of home-based turbines.
> So, are you happy with your turbine? Tell me about it.

Looking at your picture, I'd say your turbine is way too close to roof
height to get decent output. See if you can get it 5m higher up so it's well
out of turbulence from the roof line, then see how the power output is.



Posted by tg on January 19, 2007, 9:15 am
Please log in for more thread options

>
> Looking at your picture, I'd say your turbine is way too close to roof height
to get decent output. See if you can get it 5m
> higher up so it's well out of turbulence from the roof line, then see how the
power output is.

You are correct in what you say but I don't think I can do that.
First of all the neighbours would probably raise hell at the intrusion into
their view.
Secondly the wall isn't strong enough to hold the stress produced by another
five meters of height. The greater the height of the
pole, the more stress on the mounting points.
I agree that it is too close to the roof level but I can't change that, this is
why I was thinking of a bigger turbine.
Do you have a turbine?





Posted by adm on January 19, 2007, 10:01 am
Please log in for more thread options

>
>>
>> Looking at your picture, I'd say your turbine is way too close to roof
>> height to get decent output. See if you can get it 5m
>> higher up so it's well out of turbulence from the roof line, then see how
>> the power output is.
>
> You are correct in what you say but I don't think I can do that.
> First of all the neighbours would probably raise hell at the intrusion
> into their view.
> Secondly the wall isn't strong enough to hold the stress produced by
> another five meters of height. The greater the height of the
> pole, the more stress on the mounting points.
> I agree that it is too close to the roof level but I can't change that,
> this is why I was thinking of a bigger turbine.
> Do you have a turbine?

Not right now as we've just moved into a new house and I am in the process
of gaining Planning Permission for a 15m tower that will carry a 3kW turbine
(we live in the country with no close neighbours) . I'm an importer and
installer of PV solar panels and am thinking of also supplying and fitting
wind turbines (although not urban roof mounted ones) so have been doing a
fair bit of research into them lately.

I'd recommend that you go here:
http://www.scoraigwind.com/rooftop.html

and read what Hugh Piggott has to say on urban wind turbines - he's well
respected in the field and has his head screwed on right.

Unfortunately, I think you are correct in what you say about your neighbours
and the structural stregth of the building. My opinion is that to make small
wind systems viable, they need to be mounted well clear of all obstructions
and in a good clean airflow. Realistically, this means on a tower in most
cases, which makes them unsuitable for many town and city dwellers.

Personally, I don't think using a bigger turbine will give you much
benefit - you will still have the same wind resource and it seems that
there's not enough to give you the maximum benefit of the turbine you
already have.



>
>
>
>



Posted by tg on January 19, 2007, 11:45 am
Please log in for more thread options


> Not right now as we've just moved into a new house and I am in the process of
gaining Planning Permission for a 15m tower that
> will carry a 3kW turbine

that sounds good. Any chance of seeing some pics when it's up and running?



Similar ThreadsPosted
Looking at a gryphon wind turbine October 18, 2007, 9:55 am
New (to me) type of wind turbine May 12, 2007, 11:11 pm
Reaction Wind Turbine January 13, 2008, 12:49 am
Wind turbine towers June 30, 2008, 11:40 am
Dilemma - 24V wind turbine, 12V PV's January 23, 2007, 3:02 pm
Wind turbine mast construction February 20, 2007, 5:42 pm
Wind turbine heat pump February 20, 2007, 7:49 pm
Best practices for homebuilt AC wind turbine? February 28, 2007, 5:12 pm
wind turbine in my local paper February 16, 2008, 10:35 am
Wind turbine a starter question February 25, 2008, 8:50 am

Contact Us | Privacy Policy
XML SitemapXML Sitemap